Historical Narratives on War and Money Miss the Right Mark (Scrip)
In 1920, John Maynard Keynes proclaimed that Germany’s debt burden would push the world into another war. (Keynes, 1920)
In 1923, one US dollar was worth 4,210,500,000,000 German marks.
In Schwanenkirchen, Germany, 1931 a successful local currency called Wara was forbidden by the German Ministry of Finance (clevelandfed)
In Wörgle, Austria, 1933, a local version of Wara fixed schools, built a bridge, constructed a ski jump, and was also forbidden by the central bank. (Lietaer, 1999)
In 1933, Keynes and economist Irving Fisher said that locally issued money would break the Depression. (Fisher, 1933)
In 1938, the U.S. payment of wages in scrip became illegal under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
In 1939, WWII began.
Today, the United States Library of Congress says, “World War II finally cured the Depression”. (Library of Congress)
Hardly anyone knows about Wörgle, nor scrip.
So great is the narrative about the inevitability of war.
The same story played out in the American Revolution…
What war was not related to a dysfunctional and extractive monetary system?
